Copyright © 2014 Hifi

1 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig 2 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig This Issue Hifi Pig CONTENTS Magazine EDITORIAL January 2014 Issue 2 4 Editorial 11 Readers System www.hifipig.com 16 Dealers System Telephone: +33 (0)2 97 23 70 78 E mail: [email protected] Siret - 488 244 898 00018 REVIEWS t’s been a busy month here at Hifi Pig. Not 22 Coffman Labs G-1A Preamplifier only have we had lots of new kit that has 28 The Cartridge Man Isolator Icome in for review but we’ve also covered masses and masses of news - which you can 33 Simple Audio “GO” Bluetooth Speaker read here . 34 Oriton Audio R33 Support System CES gave us a lot to talk about on the site and as always we aimed to be first to bring this news to 37 Astintrew Powered USB our readers. 41 Atoll Electronique IN200 SE Integrated We’ve also expanded our Facebook and Twitter Amplifier & CD200 SE-2 CD Player feeds and the number of followers we have on our increasingly important social media feeds - 46 LessLoss DFPC Signature Power Cables it’s an ideal opportunity for us to get feedback 51 COMPETITION Win Astintrew’s Powered from our readers in a more informal setting. It USB as reviewed by Danny Worth this month. also lets us know that what we are writing about 52 REVIEW LINKS is what you want to read about. However, as always if you have any comments 54 ALBUM REVIEWS you’d like to make or have any questions then let us know. 58 BEHIND THE BRANDS with Scott Berry of Computer Audio Design Stuart Smith

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- Listen Up Exhibitors by Linette Smith

014 has kicked of with what has been a very practicality in successful CES by all accounts. HiFi Pig was your room but 2not there but we are hoping to make it over the a pitch black or pond very soon. badly lit room We are very much looking forward to the Munich will make High End 2014 show….just around the corner in photo’s May. difficult to say Now all this talk of shows got me thinking, I’ve been the least. to a few now and noticed the good, the bad……and Yes the sound the ugly! is the most It got me thinking that a list of dos and don’ts, from important the perspective of a show visitor, might be helpful to thing, for the exhibitors. people that are So here it is my top ten of what to do and what not to there, but for do when exhibiting at a HiFi Show: every person actually 1.Crushed velvet….be it black, red or any other visiting a show colour is just not the right material to display your there are many wares on! more who can’t I have witnessed this many times, it looks cheap and be there and it makes your products look cheap…leaves me they will be drawn to read about your products by thinking ‘tart’s boudoir’ not High End HiFi. images, whether in print or on the web. t is also a pain in the butt to photograph and Some well placed spot lights can go a long way to generally reflects in a nasty way and makes photos of help with both the atmosphere and the practical your kit look bad…..and those photos are going to be aspects of people getting photos of your kit.

3.Make sure you have music playing. Am I Make sure you have music stating the bleeding obvious here? playing. Am I stating the Maybe, but I have witnessed rooms at big shows with big name bleeding obvious here? kit…silent, and I have walked out of those on blogs, websites, facebook, pinterest…….. rooms…and if I do, go figure, so will others. If you need to cover the surface that your kit is being Yes I know sometimes, kit will be being changed etc, displayed on then go for something more natural and but put up a notice or have someone welcoming non reflective. people who arrive at your room while it is quiet just to let them know that the music is going to resume 2.People will want to take pictures of your kit shortly, at least engage people…don’t just leave (hopefully)! Make it easy for them, I know a balance them to wander aimlessly around your room…and needs to be struck between atmosphere and then out of the door.

Beautiful looking HiFi in a silent room will only Be sure to look after your staff too, if they are hold peoples’ interest for so long before they go to enjoying working for you they will do a much better look and listen elsewhere. job of promoting your brand. I have experienced both ends of the spectrum, from 4.And while we are on the subject of welcoming teams of people that really engage you to those that people make sure that you do. stand around chatting amongst themselves whilst If you make people feel welcome then they are likely ignoring people who desperately try to catch their to spend more time in your room and identify eye. with your products. A good experience at a show Perhaps the worst experience I have had of this was could turn a visitor into a client ….a bad one could in a room where no music was playing (strike 1), turn them off your brand for life. nobody engaged with us (strike 2) the guy running Treat everyone well and treat everyone the the room sat having a loud conversation on his same….do you have a crystal ball? Do you know mobile with no regard for the people who actually who is going to want to lash out 100 grand on your wanted to hear what his loudspeakers sounded like products? No you don’t, looks can be deceiving and (strike 3). Oh dear. that quiet looking couple that you just ignored may well …no music was playing (strike 1), have come to the show to compile a nobody engaged with us (strike shopping list…and now your products are not on there. 2) the guy running the room sat Think about it……politeness and having a loud conversation on niceness cost nothing and arrogance can his mobile with no regard for the kill your business. people who actually wanted to To the other extreme….don’t just hear what his loudspeakers pounce on people and start trying to sell to sounded like (strike 3). Oh dear. them, if you can create a welcoming atmosphere it is enough to let people know that you 6.The enthusiasm thing does not extend to being are there and can be approached if they need help. lectured at. Yes you want, and need, to impart your It’s about creating a balance, being too pushy is as knowledge about your products, but this is a HiFi bad as being too aloof. show…not a lecture hall. When your audience is fidgeting in their seats and looking at their watches it may be time to realise that shutting up and playing 5.Be enthusiastic! This is YOUR brand that you are some tunes would be a better idea all round! representing, in a lot of cases it is your life’s Organising your presentations so that you introduce work…if you are not excited about it then how on the products and impart information, whilst earth do you expect the general public to be? interspersing this with music, is much better and If you are employing people to represent your brand more engaging for your audience than just talking at make sure that they behave as you would and are as them. enthusiastic as yourself. Make sure that they know your core values and present your brand as you want 7.Musical variety. Please, lets have a bit of variety. it to be presented. Not everyone listens to classical music, even if you think it best showcases your system be aware that people will want to listen to other genres, if you play

5 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Editorial a good variety then once again it will engage the room is important too….if you don’t have the space audience more…….why not ask people what they to show off the sound of your biggest speakers use a would like to hear, or let them play their own music? smaller pair from your range to demonstrate and just have the bigger ones on show. 8.Be realistic about what will work in your room and how you set the room up. 9.Use the show as an opportunity to meet other Visitors need to be able to move around the room people in the business. We have met so many new and see your products, they need to be able to sit people at HiFi shows and some have gone on to down and hear the system too. Try and make it become really good friends. The world of HiFi is comfortable, uncluttered and a pleasant place to be. actually quite a small one and everybody knows Don’t try and cram in too many chairs or things that everybody else so watch your mouth and don’t slag are not needed. I remember one room at Munich last off your competition or word will get out! A show is year that had so many potted plants in it, it resembled a great place to make new contacts and form new a jungle, not only was it difficult to get to see the collaborations; so much more can be achieved from kit on offer, I expected David Attenborough to leap working collaboratively than trying to keep out at me at any moment! everything to yourself! Some of the most successful rooms I have been in at shows have had a really cohesive feel with their 10. Have fun! Yes, it is work but a show really branding carried through on everything from what should be fun too and if you are clearly enjoying the the staff wore to the seats. They didn’t try to fill the show and are passionate about what you do it will room with everything they had in their range but draw people to you and people will be talking selected products carefully. Matching the system about your brand, for all the right reasons, long after that you actually have playing to the size of the the show has finished!

With the announcement of their $200 00 Statement amplifier Naim have caused quite a stir amongst some sections of the audiophile community. Stuart Smith suggests that this kind of product is perhaps very good for the industry as a whole.

hen Naim announced at the recent CES well healed of individuals, but put your latest exhibition that they would be launching a creation on a celebrity or top model and get it Wpreamp and power amp combo that would photographed in the right magazines and it will get leave purchasers with a $200 000 hole in their bank talked about by a wider audience. Now this wider account it was inevitable that there a certain degree audience may well not be able to afford the latest of backlash from some quarters would come...and Dior creation from the show so they buy the ready- come it did. to-wear range and if not that then they buy a bottle of the brand’s perfume at Christmas. Now we live in a world that is full of injustices for Likewise an individual reading about the Statement better or worse, but claims that the introduction of amps may not be able to afford to nip out and buy the Statement amps from Naim are “obscene” and them, but they will see them as being the pinnacle “bad for the industry” just doesn’t register with me (I’ve not heard them so can’t comment) of what is I’m afraid. What Naim has done here with the achievable and may well consider buying something introduction of the Statement amplifiers is say to the from Naim’s other more affordable range of world “Look at this, it only plays music but it costs products…and if not Naim then perhaps another more than a sports car. Take notice!!” and that is just brand. Good for the industry as a whole! what people out there will do – they will take notice. Within the audio world beats by Dre have managed As a marketing exercise the Statement amplifiers to create a huge market for themselves and a whole will ensure that Naim (and high-end hi-fi in general) new market in general for relatively high-priced is spoken about beyond the hi-fi media and this is a headphones. They have given the world cans that are good thing. Let’s face it, the audiophile community perceived to be better than anything the average kid can be very inward facing and more than a little of a on the street would have thought previously about “closed shop” and so anything that creates attention buying and they’ve got celebrity endorsement behind for the hobby from the outside world has to be a them. Said kids on the street can’t afford to buy the positive surely. jewellery and cars that the celeb’s can, but they can (at a push) afford the same cool and perceptively I’ll explain my thinking and I’m aware some will better headphones their idols are sporting this disagree: If Mr and Mrs Bloggs are reading their week…and so a whole new market was created. Sunday supplement , or watching yet another home design program on the television and see an article I’ve seen people, some with a vested interest and about a beautifully furnished home that has (God some without, say that the ticket price of the amps is forbid) something other than an iPod dock and pair disgraceful as there can’t be more than $15 000 of lifestyle loudspeakers in there, then perhaps they worth of components in there, but they’re choosing may just think “why don’t we have a decent way to to ignore the huge sums of money that go into play back our music”. It’s true that for the vast research and development. And anyway, so what if it majority of people $200 000 is a sum of money that costs $200 000? A product is worth what an they would never contemplate spending on a “music individual perceives it as being worth and if there is a centre” but that’s not the point here! Mr and Mrs market for an amplifier costing $200 000 then Bloggs could say “Well I can’t afford to buy into that someone should jump in and supply to that market… level of hi-fi, but what I can do is have a look around and good on Naim for stepping up to the plate! The and listen to something that is in my price bracket average person buying hi-fi doesn’t have the same that will surely sound infinitely better than what we buying pattern as the mega wealthy person has. The have at the moment. After all, it seems everyone else wealthy want what is the perceived best and they has a good hi-fi”. want it because not everyone else can have it.

This is what I would call the trickle down effect in Personally I wish Naim nothing but success for action. We see it in other markets and so why not in having the bottle to put the Statement amps out there. hifi. In the fashion industry the haute-couture fashion I hope they sell a good few to those with the money items we see on the backs of models strutting the cat- to splash and I hope that they create a bit of interest walks of London, Paris and Rome are unbelievably in high-end audio outside the audiophile world. priced and well beyond the means of all but the most

10 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig In this month’s Reader’s System Readers System we asked Hifi Pig Magazine reader James Lines to tell us about his hi-fi history, his current system and what the future may hold.

s a child, I always had Best possible sound' is not Aa keen interest in music and I fondly a universal position on remember taping hours of music off the radio onto which we all agree. cassette for later listening. But it wasn't until I turned 18 that my sound that others might term wooly or lacking interest in trying to improve the quality of music definition. The system I'm trying to create is one reproduction at home started. I can clearly which places tone, weight and scale ahead of strictly remember almost falling off my chair when my 'what's on the disc'. More on this later. parents agreed to buy me a Cyrus 3 amp for my 18th So, fast forward 18 years and my system is birthday. Little did I see the slippery slope in front unrecognisable from the Cyrus/Rotel/Mission system of me! that got me started. In the intervening years I have Over time I added to this a Rotel RCD-965BX LE been through countless bits of kit and spent far too Discrete (surely the longest model name in history?!) much money, trying different paths along the way, CD player and a pair of Mission 760i speakers. At from sub/sat systems to fully active speakers being this point I knew there was potential for music to be driven directly by a DAC, all of which have led me reproduced at far higher quality than I had previously to the system I have today. thought possible. The question was and still is to a I'll describe my system in the order in which I've certain extent, which route to take through the hi-fi bought it and describe the benefits/drawbacks of equipment maze to deliver the best possible sound each item along the way. quality in my listening room. First up is my Shindo Monbrison preamp. Shindo- 'Best possible sound' is not a universal position on San hails from Japan and has built a global which we all agree. One mans highly detailed is reputation for amplification, turntables and speakers another mans bright. Some prefer the lure of valves that major on drawing listeners into the musical which in some equipment imparts a warmth to the performance. Each model is packed full of esoteric

11 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reader System and hard to find parts including out of production accurate and resolving system which is devoid of any NOS valves and old capacitors/resistors. emotion. Boring! For me, having a decent preamp in the chain is very The only drawback I can level at the Shindo is that in important. It is the preamp which takes that rather my system it has too much gain. This is something I thin sound emanating from most CD players and intend to remedy at the DAC or power amp end in adds weight, increases the soundstage and all round the near future. scale of the sound which you hear. I only realise Next up are my speakers which are Tune Audio quite how important the Shindo pre is in my system Prime's. These are a three-way folded horn design when I a) remove it or b) replace it with a less with 95db sensitivity and finished in olive ash. Both competent pre. All that weight, tone and scale that I drivers are supplied by Fostex but are then fettled to so much enjoy about my system is down to the meet Tune Audio's requirements. They're about Shindo. It may not be strictly accurate to the source 55cm deep and my wife nearly had a heart attack but without the Shindo my system turns into a highly when she saw them in situ (my hopes of them blending into the room were quickly dashed!). I've Power supply for the power amp by Maplin only had these speakers for just over five months but I think this time it's love. For the first time I now have the scale and dynamics which I've been seeking for several years. These speakers reproduce a wonderfully natural tone. The treble is beautifully extended without any trace of harshness. I have positioned my speakers in both corners of the room to aid bass loading which works well. There's nothing I can fault at this stage with these speakers. One area I've spent more money on than any other area in my system is DAC's. In the last few years I've

Temple Audio’s diminutive Bantam Gold poweramp

12 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reader System owned an M2Tech Young, Weiss DAC202, Metrum which runs from a CF card installed on the Alix Octave, Bel Canto 3.5vb and a PS Audio board. There is a remote app called MPad which I Perfectwave DAC. Don't ask me where this use on the iPad to control the music. obsession with DAC's came for as I honestly couldn't As you can see from the pics, this DAC is still a tell you. But I'm certain that not all DAC's are work in progress. I've some further tweaking to do created equal. In my view this has less to with the before I find a suitable enclosure for it. Total spend DAC chip and more to do with the output stage. so far is about £800 which isn't bad for a DAC which The box of bits you see in the pictures is my current comprehensively betters any of the aforementioned DAC. It's called the DDDAC and it uses 1794 DAC DAC's I've owned. This project may well lead to chips in dual mono configuration on each DAC further DIY projects in the future. board. I'm using two boards but the design will There are two downsides to the streamer software support up to eight boards and possibly more. The that I've selected. Firstly, it has no Spotify interface. small green boards you can see sticking out at various angles are Tentlabs shunt regulators. I'm DDDAC that James is constructing using Cinemag output transformers in place of the supplied capacitors. The smallest board is a Wave IO USB board. I connect the green board on the pics (which is an Alix card) to the USB board. Music is then streamed from my NAS drive into the Alix card, and then on to the USB board. The DAC motherboard, USB board and Alix card are all supplied by linear power supplies (same design but different voltages). For software I'm using a Linux player called MPDPUP. This is a stripped down bare bones player

Shindo Lab’s Monbrison preamplifier at the heart of the system

Secondly, my Linux skills are rather limited, so much if a positive impact this software has had. The when something goes wrong with the software or soundstage is now more focused and any looseness network connection it takes me a long time to fix it. in the bass has gone. More listening is needed but This happens infrequently though and I'm sold on the I'm encouraged by what I hear thus far. idea of integrating a streamer in with the DAC. The So, what does the future hold for my system? A case answer might be a wandboard running Squeezelite for my DAC for sure and also perhaps some valve but I need to look into this further. monoblocks.....the slippery slope continues. The final piece of my system is a very The full rack showing the Tune Audio Prime modest looking loudspeakers Bantam Gold amplifier from Temple Audio. I think this is a huge bargain at £190 and it drives my speakers very well. The Bantam outputs a maximum of 25w depending on the supplied voltage. I'm using a linear power supply from Maplin to drive mine. It can be adjusted to provide 16v which is something I intend to do soon. There are also reports of these amps working well with battery power, but I'm lazy and will likely forget to recharge them. Just recently I've been trialing a room correction software package from Dirac. This entails measuring the room with a microphone at various positions to create a sonic map of the room (for want of a better description). From this map the software creates an optimised filter which is then used during playback from the software. I'm surprised at how

Hifi Pig first met Geoffrey Armstrong of Sound Galleries a few years ago whilst we were visiting the Top Marques supercar show in Monaco and as a side attraction we attended a small hi-fi show Geoffrey had organised in one of the principality’s hotels. It turned out the hi-fi was actually much more interesting than the cars and we got to listen to some pretty amazing kit that Geoffrey sells. Here we’ve asked him to put together a relatively high-end system using a computer as the system’s source.

any years ago I was frustrated by the huge Sound Galleries gap between my HiFi rig and live music. MI’m a frequent concert goer, and listening (Monaco) to Jazz in a small club the sheer vivacity and excitement of acoustic instruments was always a Telephone Monaco 97 98 32 60 shock compared with what I was getting at home. The first speakers that brought me much closer to Website that experience were High-Efficiency and Horn loaded speakers. I think that’s why the level of Email realism this type of speaker is capable of often comes as a shock to most people. They are difficult to ignore or use as background music, even at low levels, because they have such an uncanny ability to draw you into the music. The speaker I’ve picked for this system is perhaps a bit of an unsung hero in this class. It’s the Rethm Saadhana. By augmenting the main driver with a sealed Isobaric active bass system, which also employs fast paper cone drivers, the experience is extended all the way down to 20 Hz. This bass can easily be perfectly integrated using the controls on the Saadhana, resulting in a top to bottom, full range coherent sound.

The Saadhana is a highly resolving speaker and most people drive it with tubes. With this type of driver though a very slight peak can occasionally be detected in the “presence” region, which is heard as being a little “white” sounding in this area. Using the Saadhana while in the normal listening position this is almost impossible to detect and is not likely to bother anyone using high quality tube amps. However, listening on axis (with a Saadhana basically firing straight at you) this peakiness can be detected. Last year I had a revelation when a customer brought his NCore amp in and we tried them on the Saadhana. Even on-axis the peakiness could not be detected. What was happening? Most of you know that the impedance measurement of a speaker is “nominally” rated, most commonly at Rethm Saadhana loudspeakers move the 8ohms; but “nominally” translates to “approximate”, air in this system meaning it will vary depending on the frequency the

16 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Dealer System amp/speaker is being asked to re-produce. NCore Side view of the Rethms amps seem to have an uncanny ability to respond so instantaneously to changing demands in power, that they smooth out any peaks and dips in the frequency range. This suggests that any slight peakiness you may detect with this type of wide-band driver, is probably due to the amp/speaker interface and not the driver itself. So I’m going to take the unusual step of combining a pair of NCore Mono-Blocs with these speakers, even though they deliver far more power than the speaker really needs to sing. In audio it pays to have an open mind!

I find the NCore’s are also highly-resolving with no smearing of transients or added texture. At the same time they manage to avoid sounding clinical. This certainly leaves this system in the high- resolving/truth telling camp, so why not continue down this route and use the latest Antelope Zodiac Platinum DAC? This is just about the highest resolution DAC known to me and is also the most advanced, supporting DSD and the ability to up- sample all DSD to 256 (256 x the sample rate of CD). With its remote volume control allowing fine adjustment, it also makes an excellent pre-amp. We

N Core Power amps

Richard’s system neatly in place

18 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Dealer’s System can thus feed those NCore mono-blocs directly with may cost thousands to tens of thousands, we can now the Zodiac via XLR. try out software players which, in any case, cost far less to buy. Now we just need to add our source. This is going to be a Computer Based audio system using a Mac mini The customer I just mentioned found his sweet spot with iTunes to manage our music library and specific when I played some DSD files using Audirvana +. choices for the software audio player. It’s one of just two players which support DSD on the Mac and I think it’s the best choice. DSD tends I had a real bully of a dentist when I was a teenager. to sound more “analogue like” and sweeter than the He assured me that if I didn’t give up Mars bars, PCM we are all much more familiar with, since it is Coca-Cola and sugar in my coffee, very nasty things the format of CD’s and most other higher resolution would happen to me. He would personally see to music files. Audirvana + is also a popular choice for that. It worked! A customer heard this system playing PCM files on most systems. On this system recently and was very impressed by it. The one though I prefer to take my PCM with Amarra; a observation he made is that compared to his tube player that most listeners agree imparts an analogue based system, it would be like giving up sugar in like sound to PCM audio. Through this system coffee. At first it would taste a little too strong. After Amarra for PCM and Audirvana for DSD would be a while though, he would adjust, and if after that he all the “flavouring” I would need. tried to take sugar again, it would taste way too sweet. I think it’s a good analogy. This system is truly "transparent” and not just in the usual sense of that term, that there seems to be In the age of Computer Audio the software audio nothing between you and the performers. Srajan of player has a significant outcome on the sound in my 6Moons already noted in his review of the opinion. It really is the source of your system and Saadhana's that they provide “deep insight into instead of comparing different CD players which musical performance”. Couple them with NCore

Antelopes Zodiac Platinum dealing with the zero and ones

Analysis Plus interconnects

19 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Dealer System amps and the Zodiac Platinum and this Pricing inclusive of VAT/TVA: "transparency" is taken to the nth degree. This allows the real meaning of the music to come through, Rethm Saadhana, Pair €13000 which is what I need to become both emotionally and Zodiac Platinum 384khz PCM/256 DSD DAC/Pre-Amp €5000 Ncore Mono Block Power Amps €5000 - €7000 (Depending on intellectually engaged in the music. exact model/options) TelluriumQ Black Diamond 1 Meter USB cable €800 I would hook up the system with TelluriumQ cable, TelluriumQ Ultra Black Balanced XLR interconnect 1m Pair €653 which really does seem to do as it claims in terms of TelluriumQ Ultra Black Speaker Cable 2M pair €1256 helping to rid the system of any timing errors. I was TelluriumQ Blue Power Cables €432 x 5 = €2160 shocked at how big a difference it made when I Quadraspire Sunoko-Vent 2 Shelf Rack €500 swapped their Graphite speaker cable in place of Mac Mini Suitable as source for this system, Approximately €1000 - €1500 (Depending on exact model/options) another company’s highly regarded cable in an Audiophile grade player software from Audirvana + at €59 to Avantgarde Trio based system. The Graphite was so Åmarra Symphony with IRC €580 much better in the context of that system. Since then they have introduced their ultimate Black Diamond Total System Price from €29428 to €32449 depending on options. cable. I am using their Black Diamond USB cable together with Ultra Black balanced interconnects and blending in well with existing furniture. speaker cable, in this system. Putting together what I call a “traditional audiophile A simple 2 shelf rack will suffice for the components system” such as this is a lot of fun. The most in this system as they are all compact and run cool. I rewarding part for me is when a smile spreads over favour the Quadraspire Sunoko-Vent racks as the customers face and you know you’ve hit on the providing excellent performance for the price and combination which really pushes all his/her buttons.

Preamplifier by Stuart Smith

irst of all let me say that I absolutely love the coil input and moving magnet input, a headphone aesthetics of G-1A from Coffman Labs with amplifier, three line level inputs, two variable Fits purposeful and almost steam-punk looks. outputs and a tape output. Feature-wise the asking It’s beautifully put together and feels bomb-proof. I price is starting to stack up to seem pretty reasonable also love the way the knobs on the front of the and then we look inside where we have NOS paper preamp feel – the selector switches clunk into place in oil capacitors sourced from cold war Russian, the and they have a firm and solid feel to them – they’re switches are military aircraft grade and designed for also of a size that just feels right. On top of the rack millions of operations and all wiring is point to point it looks absolutely fabulous and is something of a and by default labour intensive. Then there’s the fact work of art to my eyes. that there will only ever be 500 of the G-1A made OK, so it looks great but what do you get for the not and so you actually get to own something that has a inconsiderable sum of $5500? Quite a lot actually! degree of rarity value too. There’s a separate and visually matching outboard So who are Coffman Labs? tube rectified (5AR4) power supply which connects Based in Oregon, USA Coffman Labs is the to the main unit by a thick and sturdy umbilical. You brainchild of Damon Coffman a classically trained get a phonostage with a step up transformer moving violinist and physicist (that classic combination)

whose stated aim is to “create products that music through this new wunderkind on the block reproduce the natural sound experienced during live only to look at each other and say “this doesn’t performance”. Damon comes from a background in sound right”. Perhaps it needs more warming up so developing and patenting specialised medical passive monitoring devices and was …it is a wonderful piece of involved in creating a visual stethoscope which allowed equipment that sounds really cardiac care decisions to be made by medical assistants beautiful in our system with in rural 3rd World countries. Expectations are High!!! whatever kind of music we So knowing what we had throw at it. learned about the history of Coffman Labs and the background of the main we persevered. Nope, this thing sounds screechy and character behind the brand expectations were positively headache inducing and we were of a mind naturally very high when the unit arrived for review. that Damon, given his violin background, had tuned A quick read of the instructions – there’s a specific it specifically for this instrument …surely not. I sequence to follow when turning the unit on and off contacted Damon and explained that I didn’t think I – and it was plumbed into the system and left to could review the preamp as it didn’t reach our warm up for a while. We settled back to listen to

The Coffman Labs G-1A main box on the left and its power supply on the right

23 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews benchmark and he suggested there may be a problem produced something that was tuned specifically to with the power supply and so sent out a new rectifier Damon’s hearing after our first experience! tube…nope, still the same problem. We popped it in However, I can truthfully say that having lived with front of different amps, we tried different sources this preamplifier for a good while now it is a and still the same. wonderful piece of equipment that sounds really beautiful in our system with whatever kind of music we Soundstage is very wide and throw at it. I can only assume that, despite the excellent deep, bass bouncy packaging the original review unit arrived in, somewhere Without any further comment from me a new unit along the line it was damaged in transit. The unit’s was shipped to us at great expense to Coffman and been sent back and I’m sure Damon will do a after the usual French custom hassles we had a thorough investigation as to what was wrong with hopefully working preamp to play with. the first pre – certainly there seemed to be no Expectations are Low!! physical damage! I have to say we were both a little nervous when we In front of the Iridium amp you get a wonderfully plugged the newly arrived unit into the main rig and balanced sound with no frequency band dominating to be absolutely honest I was of the mind that the G- and that is absolutely crammed full of detail. 1A was a bit of a lemon and Coffman Labs had Specifics

Lots of ins and outs, plus moving magnet and moving coil phono for the vinyl fanatics.

On the Moving Magnet input using the variable but I’m fortunate to have the electronics in a separate loading at 47K (95K, 70K are available too) using and relatively isolated part of the living space so this the Cartridge Man Music Maker the word that really wasn’t an issue for me. Had I the time and immediately springs to mind is coherence. Soundstage is very On poor recordings the Coffman pre is pretty wide and deep, bass bouncy unforgiving and would suggest that whatever and tight on Dillinger’s “Cocaine” with the vocal track it adds to the sound it not trying to mask the being clearly forward in the original recording in any way. mix. Each instrument is easy to identify in the mix and there’s an overall very inclination I’d have loved to have explored a bit of pleasing tone to the sound. The lead guitar that tube rolling to see if this could be cured for the sake comes in at the end of this track is particularly of Audiophillia Nervosa. On poor recordings the realistic sounding which had me reaching for the Coffman pre is pretty unforgiving and would suggest Latin rhythms and virtuoso guitar of “L’Ame de that whatever it adds to the sound it not trying to Baden Powell” by Baden Powell. The close micing mask the original recording in any way. of the guitar is very evident in the recording and the Switching to the MC input and the Technics illusion of there actually being a stage in front of you 1210/Origin Live Silver/AT33EV combo the is very real indeed with the G-1A in the chain. microphony is still evident when you tap the unit. There’s a bit of microphony from the valves in MM From previous listening there is no doubt that on mode (evident if you tap the top of the preamplifier) acoustic instruments this pre is really a top class

Purposeful looking and puroseful feeling switches and knobs

25 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews performer but now it’s time to throw a bit of techno headphone amp I have used for the last couple of at it in the form of 3 Phase and “Current 1” and the years as my reference. Coffman copes very well indeed. The soundstage Conclusion opens up even further than with the MM input and you get a very 3 dimensional and enveloping sound $5500 (£3350 at today’s exchange rate) is a good which is layered with loads of detail. In comparison deal of money to spend on a pre-amplifier and the to my own Electrocompaniet phonostage I’d say the Coffman Labs amp is clearly aimed at a pretty high Coffman Labs clearly My initial impression was that bass was perhaps outshines a little light but you soon realise that it’s not – it by a country it’s just not overblown and, as I said, the overall mile. In compari sound is very balanced. son to the recently reviewed Van de Leur the flavour is slightly different but overall I’d say I preferred the end market. However, given the quality of the unit Coffman, particularly when using the MC input – it’s overall, how well it is specced and the fact that it is slightly more 3 dimensional in its presentation. handbuilt in limited numbers I’d say it represented very good value to anyone living in the US. Add Switch to the line input the microphony disappears delivery and taxes to the EU and you’re getting completely. There is still the feeling that this pre is closer to a preamplifier that costs upwards of £4250 something very special indeed with that all so the relative value thing becomes a little more enveloping sound. It’s still got a degree of blurred, but I’d still say that the Coffman Labs offers “neutrality” but I wouldn’t say it is completely excellent value against anything I’ve heard in this transparent and it definitely brings something to the price bracket available in the EU! party that may not be everyone’s idea of “high- fidelity” in its strictest sense but by God does it The sound is open and balanced and decidedly allow you to really enjoy the music. On Neil incisive. It’s not the last word in neutrality but then Young’s “Cortez the Killer” Young’s distorted again it’s not hugely coloured either – it’s certainly guitars are clearly layered and have that “in the not a “warm” sounding preamplifier by any stretch room” feel again. Hats are crisp and that overhang of the imagination and it is transparent to a large thing that I really hate on bass and drums just degree. Feed it with good quality recordings and you disappears. The stereo image is clearly defined and will be rewarded admirably, feed it with sub standard your left with a sound that is delicate and yet visceral recordings and it is unforgiving. Listening to the amp and very, very lifelike. in my system I found myself lost in the music and I think that for the Iridium amplifier from Tellurium Q On the subject of bass this is an interesting aspect of it is a perfect match. the Coffman Labs preamp. My initial impression was that bass was perhaps a little light but you soon It excels with acoustic music but pop in rock or realise that it’s not – it’s just not overblown and, as I techno and it’s equally superb. said, the overall sound is very balanced. On the downside the issue of microphony on the I had the opportunity to test the headphone amp with phonostage may be an issue for some but by isolating a few pairs of headphone amps we have in the house it well I had no issues other than when tapping the at present and it’s very good indeed. As I’ve said unit with my finger. previously I’m not a huge headphone listener and Without a doubt well deserving of the Recommended most of the listening I do is on little and relatively award and I defy anyone who hears this pre in a inexpensive desktop systems so my experience of decent system to say otherwise. Had this review been top-top flight headphone amps is pretty limited. written in 2013 the pre would have been my joint However, the Coffman Labs performed as well as "electronics" product of the year along with the anything we’ve had in the house over the last couple Iridium power amp I’m now using. Do I hope to do a of years and was easily a match for my prototype deal for the demo unit? – yes I do !

Isolator by Stuart Smith

he Cartridge Man Isolator is an interesting known I was not hopeful of this little device’s and somewhat off the wall concept I thought. efficacy. TI reviewed the brilliant Cartridge Man Music To fit it you basically peel of a bit of paper Maker III cartridge a few months ago and since then protecting a sticky surface, stick the sticky surface it’s been sat on the end of the Origin Live Silver arm onto your cartridge whilst aligning the attached attached to my Wilson Benesch Circle turntable. locating pins and then tighten the attached bolts to Truth be known, much to Len’s (The Cartridge Man) your arm with the supplied nuts. It’s a bit of an odd annoyance I’m sure, I really didn’t want to interfere experience not having the bolts go through the actual with what was a lovely sounding analogue set up. cartridge body and it be just stuck there by glue, but However, the isolator had been sent for review and all seems pretty secure. Literally a two minute job! so a couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and decided to fit the isolator to the cartridge. Of course once you add the Isolator you need to realign your cartridge and set it up again… and add So what is the Isolator then, I hear you ask. Well it’s an extra 5.5 mm to the arm height. a sandwich of soft spongy material between two very thin metal plates – have a look at the picture. It On Neil Young’s “Out on the Weekend” there measures 25mm x 20mm x 5.4mm and it has a mass appears to be a good degree more naturalness to the of 2g. It’s an unassuming bit of kit and if truth be overall sound, particularly with the quieter guitar which now seems to be more apparent in the overall

28 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews mix – there’s also more insight into the recording and getting on perfectly well with it day to day and space which I love to hear. I know that “naturalness” then having your new glasses with your new and “apparent” are pretty vague words to use in a prescription arrive and only then do you realise that review, but overall the character of the music you’re actually you were missing quite a bit of finer detail. hearing doesn’t actually change, there just seems to Pop on Horace Andy’s “Book of Dub” and the deep be more detail and that nth degree of magic that we bass is a little more natural, tight and taut than strive for in our systems. On the next track “Harvest” without the Isolator in place and that feeling of there is more air and space around the instruments getting a little bit more of everything throughout the and in the mix as a whole. The soundstaging feels mix is obvious. The mix is definitely more clearly more true to life and there’s that feeling of being in defined in the stereo image. front of/in the recording space again. Moving onto Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” there’s a The change in sound is not as subtle as my cymbal sound at the start and with the Isolator in the description may point to and that feeling that what chain it’s easier to pick out and the whole tonal you are hearing is far better (more detail, more space, presentation of the music has that feel to it that it’s and more insight) than without the Isolator in place is just sounding a little more true to the original immediately apparent. I’ve striven for an analogy recording. with this and the nearest I can get is an optical one. It’s like being happy with your spectacle prescription

The Isolator connected to Cartridge Man’s Music Maker III

As I’m writing this I’m well aware that the review price and much more in sonic terms and as such it may seem a little hazy in the way I’m describing comes highly recommended. what the Isolator is doing to the sound of a cartridge If I was to be given the option of spending £85 on that I already thought was very good, but plonk this the Isolator or on a handful of albums then I’d weird looking thing between the Music Maker III definitely go for the Isolator– it will add another and the tonearm and it lifts it another rung up the level of listening pleasure to the records you already ladder - almost as if the cartridge is getting more out own! of the grooves …I’m sure it’s not, but you do HEAR more in the music. Looking at the Cartridge Man site If you own a Music Maker III cartridge then I’d say he says the Isolator “has been shown to reduce the that this is an essential purchase and I'm surprised it noise floor level by 3dB (a cut of 50%). This doesn't come bundled with the cartridge. If it has the reduction allows far more low level information into same effect on other cartridges (I have no reason to the audio picture, improving sound stage, imaging suspect it won’t) then, going out on a limb, I’d and resolution” and this seems to make sense and is suggest it will be one of the best tweaks you will a pretty accurate description of what I heard! make to your vinyl front end where “bang for buck” is concerned. Conclusion I’m dying to take it off the Music Maker III and put Ok, I’ll be honest here and say that for £85 you don’t it onto the other deck’s AT33EV to see how it seem to get a lot of hardware for your money, but the performs on non-Cartridge Man cartridges, but from Isolator has been granted a patent and at the end of what I’ve heard of it I really don’t want to risk the day it’s what improvements it makes to the sound spoiling what it does in its current home, but I’m that is important. Does it work and is it worth £85? sure in due course I’ll be ordering another. Yes it does work (much to my surprise) it works very well indeed. The Isolator is well worth the asking

Inside the 002 preamplifier.

imple Audio has a new mini Bluetooth speaker near perfect. On the bottom of the speakers, there on the market, the Simple Audio Go. are two rubberized feet that provide great stability on S most surfaces. There is also an integrated micro- It's a light and small device, which is compatible phone, although I didn’t test this feature. with almost every phone or tablet on the market. (I I can see that Simple Audio concentrated a lot on the tested it with a 4th generation iPod Touch). design of the Go, it's easy to use and looks minimal It is perfect to carry around with you (in its little bag) and stylish. Proof that simplicity can be excellent. so that you can share your music with your friends, One disappointment however is that the Go is only on the go. available in black at the moment and I feel that it The Bluetooth pairing is very simple. Press and hold should be more customisable (with a range of col- the pause/play button on the speaker for 3 seconds ours to choose from.) then select the speaker on your preferred device and The sound quality is very good, the bass is surpris- you’re ready to go. ingly rich and the high notes are pretty clear too. If you don't have a Bluetooth enabled devise you can More importantly for what it is, this speaker is loud use the provided mini jack cable which works just as and can easily fill a medium/small room. It surprised well. me the first time I used it, as I didn't expect such Once paired you can expect a huge battery life - I good sound reproduction from such a small compact charged it after every 2 or 3 days, using the provided design…it really was a ‘wow’ moment when I first micro USB cable, and it never ran out of juice. played Deadmau5 on it and this was in one of the largest rooms in our house. When I moved to a The controls work well on the actual speaker, al- smaller room, my bedroom, the Go really filled the though I rarely used them and used the controls on space with music. my iPod. Being ultra portable, I was also able to use it both The buttons feel a bit “flimsy” but this isn't a huge outside and in the car where it sounded equally good. drawback as the rest of the features on the Go are

ike Stone is the man behind Oriton and his modern super car does. It may not be all polished background in the military has led him to wood and whatnot, but the modern materials used Mtake a path of designing audio components and the way they're put together lend it a feeling of (racks, cables and cones) with vibration control very being a quality item much to the fore. Danny has reviewed Oriton cables Spacing of the shelves is not uniform (ie spaces in the past and very much enjoyed what they did. between the shelves are not the same) as you can see The R33 Support System looks for all intents and from the photograph but you can set the rack up purposes to be a regular and straight forward hi-fi pretty much as you like to accommodate the rack, but look a little closer and you begin to see that equipment that you have and I’m sure that you can first impressions can be deceptive. The pillars are tell Oriton exactly what you want and they’ll build made of carbon fibre, the whole thing is very light something accordingly – I had the biggest shelf in and each of the four removable shelves is isolated from the rack by The Oriton rack certainly works, looks four cones which allow the individual shelves to move around. great and performs well, offering great The whole rack is quite wobbly and isolation from negative external forces this was initially a bit of a worry, but it needn’t have been – the R33 will as well as offering a positive effect on happily take my not inconsiderable overall sound quality. weight and once in situ and with kit on it it’s certainly not going anywhere. the middle to accommodate the valve DAC… I put Putting the rack together was a simple enough affair the Technics 1210 on top of the rack, then the CD but care is needed as tolerances are very tight, but player, then the DAC and I sat one of my power fifteen minutes was all it took for me to have the rack supplies on the very bottom shelf. ready for the kit it was going to be housing. For the last twelve months I’ve had a turntable on a Finish on the rack is exemplary and whilst the yellow wall mounted shelf and the second turntable (the and black colour scheme I got may not be to Technics 1210) has been on a IKEA type rack on everyone’s taste I really loved how it looked. Mike suspended floorboards rendering it all but unusable tells me that other colours are in the pipeline and so unless everyone was told to sit down and not move those wanting a more subdued colour scheme will be whilst I was playing records on it – hardly an ideal well catered for. situation with regards domestic harmony - and so I was keen to see how the R33 from Oriton would There are a set of hefty spikes on the bottom of the cope with the Techy sat on top. Walking around rack which in turn sit on some specially made pucks pretty heftily causes the rack to wobble quite bit but and it’s the spikes you adjust to get the whole rack the needle refused to jump. Walking around the room level. Each of the spikes has a 4mm hole through it normally you’d be forgiven for thinking the turntable so you can stick in a suitable implement and adjust was actually on a wall shelf and I couldn’t detect any the level of the spikes so you get the rack dead even footfall at all through the headphones. Put the stylus – actually I was able to turn the spikes quite easily by on the record without the platter spinning, tap the hand. Again the finish on the spikes is really first rate turntable and you get the expected thud in the and they really add to the high-end feel of the rack. headphones, but tap the shelf the turntable is sat on Fortunately I chose a spot that was pretty much level and this thud is reduced a good deal. You need to tap and so I didn’t really need to adjust the spikes very the legs of the R33 quite hard to get a sound through much at all, but for the sake of completeness I can the headphones at all with the stylus sat on the record report that the whole procedure is really simple and and as I say I couldn’t perceive normal footfall at all. straightforward. My kit is pretty well isolated from the loudspeakers You definitely get the feeling that the R33 has been as the electronics are in a different part of the room, designed from the ground up with no buying in of off but it would seem that the Oriton rack doesn’t just the shelf items and, despite its very modern limit external vibrations from reaching your appearance, it really does exude a certain luxury and equipment and it does seem to be doing something to high-end feel to it – much in the same way that a

35 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews the overall sound of kit placed on it to a greater or basement fodder - I suspect it to be a major purchase lesser extent. I'm suspecting but have no way of for most given the price of units that purport to offer confirming that internal vibrations within the kit is similar benefits. The R33 rack screams luxury in a being subdued somewhat. high-tech and high-end kind of way. The effect on other kit (CD Player and DAC) is less The Oriton rack certainly works, looks great and dramatic than with the turntable, but still very performs well, offering great isolation from negative evident to my ears and I’ve listened long and hard to external forces as well as offering a positive effect on try and make sure this is an actual effect rather than overall sound quality. “expectation bias”. Bass frequencies appear to be I couldn’t test the efficacy of the R33 with amps and somewhat tighter and the effect is one of there being pre amps as my current kit just doesn’t fit (both pre an increase in definition of the stereo image... which and amp are big and hot) but I’d certainly be keen to has to be a good thing. On vocals there is an increase try having the amp sat on a purpose built version of in the overall clarity and the stereo image (possibly the R33. as a result) seems to be more accurate. Taking the CD drive and the DAC on and off the shelf by way On the negative side (and for my specific purpose) of experimentation, I’m convinced the effect of this the vertical rack format doesn’t really work for me tightening and increase in definition is very real and and I’d have liked to have seen a 3 shelf high unit indeed positive to the overall sound. made double (or triple) width, but keeping each individual shelf isolated from each other as they are Conclusion now – but then not everyone is forever pulling kit The price of the Oriton R33 is to be confirmed but, and cables out of their rack as I am. I suppose an given the materials used, the way that it is clearly alternative would be two shorter units placed side by very well thought out and put together and with its side. overall luxury feel, I doubt it is going to be bargain

USB by Danny Worth

The Astintrew Concord USB is a powered USB cable which uses a separate power supply for the 5v part of the USB.

he Astintrew Concord USB falls into the neatly at the rear of the rack or on the floor, I quite category of 'powered USB cables' utilising a proudly had it sat next to the Mac so it was clearly Tseparate power supply for the 5v portions of visible on a shelf as it looked great. the cables inner conductors. Somewhat different to The cable which comes with the Concord is user other USB leads of this nature the Astintrew has a The Astintrew Concord USB falls into the patent which category of 'powered USB cables' utilising a covers the power supply, which is separate power supply for the 5v portions of quite intriguing the cables inner conductors. and leaves one wondering about the exact technology utilised within selectable on purchase. There is an option to have the boundaries of the patents broader description. what I would deem 'the standard' cable - which is a The cosmetics of the power supply itself are very USB split into the two potions (data and power) with appealing indeed, a fantastically well constructed data connecting the music source direct to the DAC design with quite beautiful lines. In the blurb from and the power having a DIN plug which firmly Astintrew it's stated that the power supply will sit connects to the power supply.

The other option available means you can use a USB 2.5 I sat back and began to have a quick listen not cable of your choice. This consists of a short tail with expecting much due to the unit being new and not a USB B type female socket to accommodate the burned-in yet. existing cable, which serves data duties accompanied Tones were nice and relaxed and unforced, there was by the same power sectioned portion as previously an ease to the sound, a silky flow to the music and, for the power from the supply. most importantly, the nasty upper bass hump that the Each of the cables are thin and lightweight and are Mac has was smoothed out beautifully giving a far constructed from solid core copper, have a 1.5m better balance to the sound overall. There was length and are very well made and terminated possibly a little more openness to come from the ensuring ease of routing and placement of the power sound and I felt and a bit more width and depth could supply which has an IEC inlet for choice of power be a plus point, so I left the Mac switched on with cable and length required. Amarra on repeat for four days in order to put about 100 hours on the unit before listening again. Instruments sounded more So, four days later and time to listen again, I turned on the amp and walked developed than previously away concerning myself with other and were more finely textured “to do's” and allowed the amp to warm up for a little over an hour at a moderate to low volume. The Sound - using the Standard cable Walking back into the room during Chris Jones' First up I plugged the Astintrew Concord into my 'Angel From Montgomery' which is one of my Mac using the 'standard' cable, fed into the Totaldac favourites from the Moonstruck album, I was D1 Tube - I used a standard power cable. extremely pleased with the sound that presented Creating a usual run of the mill playlist in Amarra itself.

Power in and power out for the Concord

A bit of a no brainer says Jerry Jacobs

Instruments sounded more developed than previously uses a very high quality Paul Hynes power supply. and were more finely textured than in the days before burn-in. A definite opening of the soundstage was The midrange especially had an added openness and apparent allowing for a better perception of depth vocal depth was greater, the top end had a little more and width. The overall tonal character remained the air and was actually a little bit smoother and refined same - balanced, gentle and silky and best of all the but did seem a little sparklier with a cleaning up of bass hump was still nowhere to be heard. grain. I didn't feel that the Concord had the same Listening through more acoustic and vocal work effect to the lower-mids and upper-bass as with the from other artists was also a treat, with that midrange Mac, which was a blessing because it's already silkiness, good interaction between instruments and balanced and so thinning out of this area would have their recording surroundings and with an overall destroyed the whole balance of the sound for me. neutral and very open character. I was very much enjoying the Concord. Gutsier vocals had a cleaner lower-mid to them with the Concord sounding more natural and truer. There was also a better range of perceivable detail. Bass notes also had more detail and conveyed a more substantial layering effect after cleaning up of this dirtier area of the Macs presentation. With the nature of its presentation becoming very apparent and even Dan though the Concord too good looking to hide though not my first choice behind the rack of music, I could imagine that the Astintrew would be excellent with classical music. I have the odd album and compilation along with the option of The Option Cable Spotify, so I played some classical tracks and was There is a full review of the Tellurium Q Black correct in my assumption. Instruments once again Diamond USB published on Hifi Pig and being of a had a natural timbre and reverb, soundstage similar price this is a good comparison to the placement was correct and dynamic transients were Astintrew Concord. They do have a different wonderful. The ease of approach the Concord has presentation, the Tellurium is more energetic, faster, and it's openness really (and to my surprise) allowed punchier and upfront, but retains a great balance dynamic shifts to slam, leaving smaller details to across its presentation, whereas the Concord flow in open space with the timing being very much although fantastically balanced also has an ease of on point - no muddiness or confusion of layering in character that washes over you and gives a more busier passages was audible and I felt if anything that intimate appeal. the dirty power supply of the Mac itself would be So what would these two flavours be like once only contributing a smallish percentage to what combined? could be an even more engaging performance. Into play come the 'option' cable from Astintrew, the Using the Enhanced Digital Output software on the one which I mentioned before which can utilise a Squeezebox Touch (SBT) connected to the Totaldac listeners own USB cable for the data side of things. I connected the Astintrew Concord. I thought that Very interesting indeed, the combination of the two this would be an interesting test as the SBT already to my ears extracts more prominence in the smaller

39 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews details of upper frequencies and a more robust and types except the most fierce of dance or rock. If you upfront midrange, with a stronger vocal. The bass want a clean vocal and a strong rendition of hump of the Mac is still smoothed out nicely but instruments it's a fantastic cable. If you have a great there is a tiny bit more grunt to the lower end of male USB cable already and want to enhance its detail and vocals. Bass detail and layering was still very similar flow by taking away the dirt and hash of your to the Concord on its own and the intimacy was still computers power supply and motherboard noise then there but had a little added spice. their is the option to suit. Even with my modded SBT During the course of the review I also tried a few and its power supply I found an improvement and so aftermarket power cables I had on hand with the would expect this to be true with the likes of a Concord and whilst these aren’t the focus of this MacBook or laptop running on battery. review all had an effect on the sound and I’d suggest The Astintrew Concord has an almost intelligent way that positive results can be had. of adding a subtlety of tone and ease of breath to other cables as well as to the sound as a whole in its Conclusion own right. It can render instruments very well, Personally I could live with any of the presentations smooth off a digital edge marvellously and convey a mentioned in this review as they are all superior to wonderfully intimate listen from a digital source. many mid to high priced cables I have heard and all With a good looking power supply to show off in the have a highly accomplished detailed presentation rack, plenty of cable length and the ability to with slight characterisation differences… and in the customise its presentation with a USB cable of world of hifi, like motor racing, small differences choice I can see the Concord really becoming matter! something of a standard in high end systems. The Concord as standard is simply beautiful in its Recommended for its intimate and natural presentation and is a perfect match for most music attenuation of a digital source.

40 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Atoll seems to be little known outside their French homeland but Hifi Pig has always been impressed with the sound of their electronics when we’ve heard them at shows and so we thought it time to take closer listen… In this review Jerry Jacobs looks at the IN 200 integrated amplifier and the CD 200 CD player.

toll - due to the occasional but very positive "reasonably priced true high-end audio electronics online and magazine 'vibes' I'd picked up for budget-conscious audiophiles" Atoll was founded Aover the years, I'd had a hankering for quite in September 1997 by 2 brothers, Stéphane & a while to try some of their kit, but for some reason it Emmanuel Dubreuil and is based in Brecey, just hadn't happened. Then I spotted an eBay auction Normandy, France. for one of the early AM80 power amps, and soon it Atoll's product line is quite extensive, and includes 5 was firmly ensconced in my system ... and showing integrated amplifiers, starting with the 50wpc IN30. my beloved Krell KAV-250a power amp a thing or The IN200 SE reviewed here being part of the two about playing music! Prestige range. Digital streamers and AV equipment I was a bit surprised, to say the least. are also available. Similarly, there are several CD players, and Individually or together, the optional boards are available allowing USB and coaxial digital inputs to access the amp and CD player had a onboard digital to analog converter (DAC). similar sonic signature and UK prices are currently set at £1495 for both IN200 SE amp and CD200 SE-2 CD player, undoubtedly worked extremely and start at around £400 for the IN30 amp. well when paired. There was There is also a "high end" range called Gamme or 400 Series, priced at around £4,000 per component. The styling of these is So I was on the old email pronto to suggest to Stu rather more adventurous than the rectangular boxes (Mr Hifi Pig) that some current Atoll kit may well be of the mid-priced range, and I am sure the intention of interest for a review. A handful of emails were is to provide sonics of even higher fidelity. I've not exchanged with Atoll-GB and some Atoll heard these, but given the fine performance of the Electronique-labelled boxes soon arrived. lower-priced range, I would be very interested in With the commendable philosophy of providing doing so!

The IN200 SE integrated amp RCA digital output. As mentioned, an option is With MOSFET output devices, this solid state available to access the onboard DAC by adding USB integrated amp is a bit of a powerhouse, providing up and co-ax digital input sockets. to 120wpc (8 ohms) and 200wpc into a 4 ohm load. Unlike the IN200 SE amp, the display cannot be Available with black or silver faceplates, this is a dimmed or turned off. The middle dimmer setting solidly made substantial piece of gear and quite on the amp is a very close match. attractive in a conventional rectangular box kind of Usefully, the remote handset provided could control way. A finishing touch that greatly appealed to me both the amp and the CD player. were the ventilating grille holes on the top panel of Sonics the amp; a swirling array of small circular holes, very nice! Individually or together, the amp and CD player had a similar sonic signature and undoubtedly worked Five single-ended inputs are provided (one of which extremely well when paired. There was definitely a can be modified to access an optional phonostage), lot of positive synergy at work here. one tape loop, a home theatre bypass (to access the power section directly without passing through the Where these Atoll components excel is in midrange volume control) and two pre-outs. Unusually, the and treble resolution and transparency - vocals are IN200 SE also has a balance control (this is not crystal clear, higher frequency percussion is superbly accessible from the remote control, though). rendered, and complex musical mixes are unravelled with genuinely excellent lucidity and articulation. Usefully, but sadly rarely seen these days, there is a Quite exceptionally so when price is considered. (6.3mm) headphone socket lower left corner of front fascia controlled by the amp's volume knob. Output The Buggles' Age of Plastic album has wonderful to the speakers is muted when the jack is inserted. clarity and presence with the Atoll gear, and the separation of the vocals from the supporting The display can be dimmed (3 settings) or turned off electronic mix saw me with a huge grin on my face - altogether. to be honest, in many ways I've never heard it this well portrayed before. Quite stunning. Thankfully, The CD200 SE-2 CD player the transparency is not artificially enhanced by This uses a TEAC drawer and laser mechanism hyping up the treble response; the high frequencies designed purely for audio purposes. The drawer are clean and pure and are a pleasure to listen to. action is solid and purposeful, none of the shaky The Buggles album also highlights one of the quickfire jerkiness sometimes encountered. relative shortcomings of the Atoll equipment reviewed here - it doesn't have the deepest, grippiest A BURR-BROWN PCM1794 d-a converter chipset bass I have heard. It's pretty good and has moderate is used providing 24bits/192 kHz and 8x slam and control, but there is a bit of an added gently oversampling. softening bloom. Some listeners may well like this, A stereo pair of RCA outputs is accompanied by a

but in my view the real joy of this equipment lies Roksan's presentation is funky and upbeat, with further up the frequency spectrum. grippy bass and real slam across the frequency range, But, realistically, you cannot have everything, and a way with rhythms that just propels the music especially with what must be regarded as mid-price along. Great for some music, but, for me, lacking in components. subtlety and finesse for less upbeat musical genres. Loreena McKennitt's Parallel Dreams album again So - bring on the Atoll IN200 SE! highlights the Atoll pairings superb lucidity in vocal music, and it's commendable lack of confusion when With the Atoll amp everything is a bit more the music has many simultaneous interwoven evenhanded. The rather 2 dimensional imaging of strands. It also shows up another slight limitation - the Roksan is improved upon by a subtler and more the soundstage is of only moderate depth. The track insightful rendition of the recorded acoustic, Breaking the Silence doesn't throw the almost although as previously mentioned, more can be had holographically 3D soundstage that can be obtained - in this respect. The truly excellent high resolution in usually with much more expensive equipment! Left the Atoll midrange and treble gives a startling and to right (lateral) imaging is excellent and clearly subtle insight into vocals and higher frequency benefits from the top class resolution that the Atoll percussion, for example. components provide, but for some reason front to rear separation is a bit truncated. It's not at all bad, But does the Atoll amp re-arrange your internal actually it's pretty good, but it can be improved on. organs and have you stomping your feet to dubstep rhythms in the way the Roksan can? Well, no - it really is a case of horses for courses. It Excellent sound and equally excellent would be very value for money are to be had with both interesting to hear what the top range the Atoll CD200 SE-2 and IN200 SE. Gamme / 400 Series of Atoll components provides - the very fine sounding mid-price units Component Matching reviewed here would certainly form an excellent I'm usually a 'mix & match' kind of audiophile, foundation for a true high end range - at the cost, of happy to have each component in a system from a course, of nearly tripling the prices! different manufacturer, so long as it's synergistically done and is enjoyable to listen to! But I might make Summary an exception here. The Atoll amplifier and CD player really do complement each other well - Excellent sound and equally excellent value for considering the very reasonable prices asked, there is money are to be had with both the Atoll CD200 SE-2 exceptional transparency to be had in the mid and and IN200 SE. high frequency bands and I would be wary of pairing If bass-led musical genres are your main interest, the either item with another brand for fear of diluting Atoll equipment adds a bit of low frequency bloom, this. and you can get better grip and control elsewhere. But for pretty much any other music, the exceptional A little care is probably also needed so as not to levels of midrange and treble resolution of these combine the explicit midrange and treble of the Atoll Atoll Electronique components and their ability to equipment with a loudspeaker that is on the forward deftly handle all the complexities that music can and bright side of neutral - the combination may be throw at them should most certainly qualify them to a bit much and result in a tiring sound. be on your audition list. Comparisons Review system: MBL 116F speakers ; Vincent CD The slightly higher priced Roksan Caspian S7 CD Player; Restek Challenger integrated amp, M2integrated amp that I reviewed a while back for Krell KAV-250a power amp, Restek Consens pre- Hifi Pig provides an excellent example of an amp. alternative approach to amplifier voicing. The

essLoss Audio is an American/Lithuanian of the cables either side of these will be published based company headed by Louis Motek and a later in the year. Lteam of individuals who are extremely Bling bling is the sound of the doorbell when the passionate - bordering on bonkers about audio! The courier arrives with these American lovelies! The LessLoss website has enough technical information, cables are extremely sexy and exceptionally substan- graphs and tables about their products to give even tial. Made up of four conductors each in a separate Steven Hawkings a headache! outer braid and weave which is perfectly symmetri- Louis comes across as an extremely personable guy, cal and finished by hand to a very high degree. friendly and easy to chat to, but if you get him start- I will add that the Signatures are made up of three ed he will blind you with science in a matter of min- large cross sectioned solid core copper, doubled for utes (well he does me), all with absolute relevance to the live, and single for the neutral. Looking a little his products, tried and tested methods behind the dominated by its partners there is a fourth 6mm cross technology utilised, not to mention other tweaks and section conductor of a similar type for earth duties. experiments he will have you doing. LessLoss opt for Oyaide at each end and a Furutech Not being of a techy/geeky nature as such, well not 1363 on the UK version of the cable as Oyaide still to Louis extent, I will provide you guys with the key to this day have not manufactured a UK power plug information on the cables and proceed to conveying – why, I have no idea! their sonic signature. So you can now imagine the considerable size of the The Products Under Review Signatures! Each one I received was 1.5m and to be Louis sent over a few of each range of power cables honest I expected them to weigh a little more than for me to have a play with, the DFPC Original, DF- they actually did. The flexibility of the cable is fan- PC Signature and the DFPC Reference. For this re- tastic and very unexpected, as soon as I looked at view I'm going to be concentrating on their middle of them in their packaging my immediate thoughts were the road DFPC Signatures $1152 1m, further reviews “oh Christ I'm going to have problems here!” But it

46 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews simply wasn't the case at all. TV I thought it would probably burn in before the other three! Burning In Every few days I would take the fourth cable and I placed all four Signatures into my system at the plug it back into the amp and have a listen to the sys- outset and had an initial listen. First impressions tem briefly. After about 75 hours the cables opened were pretty good, nice detail, deeply layered mids up further revealing more expression to the midrange and an informative bass. Soundstage width was good The Signatures made good work of the and there was nice harmonics outside of the speaker bounda- extension in bass, again a little gentler or ries. An overall ease to the na- easier in the upper bass but informative ture of the sound, a little gentle in the bass but extended. nonetheless. I left three cables in my system, one for the mains block and one each on the To- and air in the upper registers and after about 150 taldac and SqueezeBox Touch to burn in while I had hours the bass began to fill out further too. A matter some household DIY to get on with. The fourth was of about two weeks in total passed by before I sat removed altogether and placed onto the television. down to have what I would call my final listening There was no way I was going to leave the valve days where I noticed a greater liquidity to the mid- amp on for any long period of time (imagine the range and a slightly more fleshed out upper-bass electricity bill) and my other half watches so much lower-mid. Top-end was a little more atmospheric

Great quality connectors add to the quality feel of this cable from LessLoss

the upper frequencies and the layering of decay on notes where a fresh note started was easily heard. I felt I have heard the guitar with a little more richness to lower notes in the past, maybe a slightly more accentua- tion of cabinet tone on a lower notes, but the ease of presentation across the board made for such an interesting and harmonically complex listen focus was drawn pri- marily to other areas of the music. Chris Jones' 'Angel From Montgomery' is one of the most addictive of tracks for The conductors of the LessLoss cable close up. me, an extremely musical and enjoyable piece which is The midrange has a sense of actually fairly complex in micro details and harmonic liquidity, the upper frequencies are artifacts on a nice system, it's one of these songs you fleshed out and controlled, with good can have a good singalong to when busy with something insight into a layered performance else, but when you sit down and really analyse it, it has some good key aspects to use for auditioning compo- and controlled but during these days of critical listen- nents. The Signatures made good work of the exten- ing I really didn't notice any further changes. sion in bass, again a little gentler or easier in the The Sound upper bass but informative nonetheless. Chris' vocal Playing Loreena McKennits 'Raglan Road' it was comes across wonderfully with the enhancement the immediately clear that the midrange of the Signa- cable adding to the quality of midrange sculpture. tures were highly developed, her vocal sits back in The cable also seems to extract a certain magic from the soundstage and has a strong projection of width the ambiance of the recording, helping to give a nat- which can be localised from it's source point in the ural nature and almost lifelike take on the music. performance. Her tones were very liquid and silky I haven't mentioned a black background in this re- and the upper registers had a quality of control that view and have just thought about this, I don't believe gripped me into the performance. The album is of a there is one, or one that stands out to me. What there live performance and the atmospheric presence of the is though is a lifelike atmosphere instead, not noise stage could be felt - airy and spacious. as such rather an organic sense that something is Contrasting her vocal with a male artist such as Nils clearly heard or not. Don't get me wrong, there are Logren and the 'Acoustic Live' album, the fleshed quiet passages in the music, but there's always that out lower-midrange is expressed very naturally in- sense that the music is alive. deed and the liquidity heard previously didn't wash I went on to play a variety of dance music to look over his tonal character. further into the bass. Playing music from Tiesto, Mi- The speed and attack of Nils' guitar solo in 'Keith kado and Armin Van Buren gave good slap and kick Don't Go' highlighted a strong degree of control in to the music. Firm bass registered, as did extended

48 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Reviews bass notes, but there wasn't a real solid driving force The LessLoss DFPC Signature Power Cables have a to the sound at lower levels, crank up the wick and sonic signature of ease and stability; they open a the cleanliness, pace and kick of those upper bass window to individual portions of the music yet still registers were fantastic, a real metallic feel. Ambient remain locked on to the performance as a whole. The harmonics and dynamics were great and the proc- midrange has a sense of liquidity, the upper frequen- essed nature of the music really showed off the layer- cies are fleshed out and controlled, with good insight ing ability of the Signatures. into a layered performance and there’s good exten- Listening to some of the big film soundtracks from sion to the bass leaving me to conclude that these are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra the Signatures indeed an extremely well accomplished cable. I displayed a window to each instrument that was nev- would have liked to be presented with all of this and er closed and allowed for reverbs and decay from the a little more driving force in the upper bass regions, neighbouring musicians to wash through with me however there is a wonderful sense of musicality as a noting that complexity of rhythm and structure is a whole and a great sense of connection to the music. key accomplishment of the LessLoss cables. Cym- The cables look and feel great are very well made bals shimmered and were well controlled with the and you do feel that pride of ownership when you first hit but had enough presence to loosen and dissi- have one in your hand. pate the sound correctly. Large dynamic shifts (in All in all I personally thoroughly enjoyed them and bass especially) sat across the performance rather would recommend them for their natural ease of than explode in height and confusion which linked presentation, musical insight and build quality. nicely with the atmospheric presence. Conclusions

LessLoss in the mains distribution block.

Turntables, Cartridges and Tonearms JoSound Cartouche Q Acoustics' Concept 20 A Cacophony of Cartridges (Dynavector Mcs) Dynaudio Excite X14 Shelter 5000 Moving Coil Cartridge Waterfall Audio Victoria EVO SME309 versus Michell TechnoArm (A) Pluto Ultimate A Cacophony of Cartridges Part 2 (Denon MCs) Simple Audio "Go" Bluetooth Speaker Rega P25, Michell Gyro SE, Garrard 401 Amplifiers Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Oracle Paris Mk V Turntable Cary Audio Design 572SE Monoblocs London Jubilee Cartridge Parasound Halo A21 Stereo Power Amp The Funk Firm Technics SL1200 Chord CPM 2600 Integrated Amplifier Roksan Radius 5 Mk2 turntable, Nima tonearm & CR Developments Romulus Valve Integrated Corus Silver cartridge Amplifier Origin Live Modified Technics 1210 Turntable Amptastic Mini-T The Cartridge Man Music Maker III Cartridge Radford STA15 Series 3 Re-Issue Amplifier Mike New Bearing for Technics 1210 Turntable Ming Da MC-7SE Pre-amp, MC-805 Power-amps The Cartridge Man Isolator Consonance Cyber 10 Signature Integrated Amplifier CD Players and Transports Radford Revival STA15 Meets the Original Radford STA15 Consonance Mini Droplet Linear CDP3.1 Absolutor Pre-amplifier Cyrus CD8x Custom Hifi Cables HA10 & HA10SE Headphone MHZS CD88 Amps, DC1 & DC2 PSUs Musical Fidelity X-Ray V8 CD plus Triple-X Power Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2 Portable Headphone Supply Amplifier Lampizator “Transport” Linear Audio Research IA30 Mk 2 Amplifier Unison Research Unico CD Primo Tortuga Audio LDR6 Passive Pre-amp Roksan Oxygene Amplifier and CD Player Roksan Caspian M2 Integrated Amplifier Atoll Electronique CD200 SE-2 CD Player Puresound 2A3 Integrated Amplifier Loudspeakers Clones Audio 25i Integrated Amplifier King Rex 'Headquarters' HQ-1 Headphone Amplifier Infinity RS2.5 Standard Ribbon Hybrid Peachtree Decco 65 MBL 116F Radialstrahler Audio4Soul Xtreme 16 Horning Agathon Ultimate Cyrus X200 Signature Mono Amplifiers Audio Note AN-e/LX Onix RA125 Integrated Amplifier Audio Physic Virgo Mk2 Tellurium Q Iridium Power Amplifier ProAc Future Point Five Mistral DT-307a Hybrid Amplifier Totem Acoustic Forest Tisbury Audio Mini Passive Preamplifier CA-Electronics AP10 Roksan Oxygene Amplifier and CD Player Akkus V1 Black Pearls' Birth 100 Ampilfier Harbeth Super SHL5 Roksan K2 BT Amplifier Eminent Technology LFT-16a Van de Leur 002/402 Pre/power amps Eminent Technology LFT-8b Tellurium Q Claymore Integrated amp Ancient Audio Studio Oslo Coffman Labs G-1A Valve Preamplifier hORNS Mummy Atoll Electronique IN200 SE Integrated Amplifier Marshall Choong FS-1 Digital to Analogue Converters Quadral Chromium Style 30 Tannoy Turnberry SE Audio GD Digital Interface USB to S/Pdif Converter Alacrity Audio Caterthun Lampizator DAC Level 4 Review TSAE Evince Human Audio Muto Dac electricbeach Frugel3 Neko Audio D100 DAC German Physiks Unlimited Mk2 Human Audio Tabla USB to SP/dif Interface

Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC/Pre-amp Computer Audio and Streaming Antelope Zodiac+ DAC/Pre-amp DARED EF-99 Headphone Amplifer and USB DAC QED uPlay Stream Epiphany Acoustics E-DAC 24bit Miniature USB Lampizator “Transport” DAC Phono Stages Resonessence Labs Concero DAC Audio4Soul Xtreme 16 Electrocompaniet ECP 1 Miniwatt n4 Headphone Amplifier and DAC Ming Da MC-Phono 2006 Cyrus X DAC Signature Schiit Modi USB DAC and Magni Headphone Headfi Amplifier Totaldac D1-tubedac Grado 325is Headphones Longdog Audio VDt1 DAC Custom Hifi Cables HA10 & HA10SE Headphone AMI Musik DDH-1 DAC and Headphone Amplifier Amps, DC1 & DC2 PSUs Q N K T C AB - 1.2 DAC Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2 Portable Headphone Resonessence Labs Herus Headphone amp/DAC Amplifier DARED EF-99 Headphone Amplifer and USB DAC Cables Musical Fidelity EB-50 In Ear Monitors King Rex 'Headquarters' HQ-1 Headphone Amplifier RFC 'Reference Mercury' Interconnect Cables Beyerdynamic DT990 Premium Headphones Epiphany Acoustics Atratus Interconnect Cables Miniwatt n4 Headphone Amplifier and DAC Black Rhodium “Twist” Speaker Cables Part 1, Part Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro Headphones 2 Schiit Modi USB DAC and Magni Headphone Black Rhodium Interconnect Cables - Opus, Amplifier Rhythm, Prelude & Symphony NAD VISO HP50 Headphones RFC 'Reference Pluto' Interconnect Cables AMI Musik DDH-1 DAC and Headphone Amplifier Vermouth Audio ‘Black Curse' Interconnects Musical Fidelity MF 100 Headphones Albedo Interconnects Teufel Aureol Real Headphones Tellurium Q Black Loudspeaker Cable Monster iSport Freedom Headphones Tellurium Q Ultra Black Loudspeaker Cables Resonessence Labs Herus Headphone amp/DAC Jade Audio Moontails Interconnects Neutral Cable - Fascino Interconnects Accessories Neutral Cable - Fascino Power Cables Oriton Diamond Red and Symphony Orange Reso-Mat LP Mat Interconnects PS Audio Power Plant Premier Graditech Kide Digital, Kide3 Interconnects and CA Electronics Isolating Feet Lumi3 Speaker Cables Diffraction Begone Baffles Chord Crimson VEE 3, Cobra VEE3, Chameleon Speaker Angle App VEE 3 Interconnects SPIN CLEAN Record Washer Tellurium Q Black Diamond USB Cable RJC Audio ‘Hush’ Turntable Isolation Platform Atlas Ascent 3.5 Mkii Speaker Cables Audio Suspension ASU-100 Turntable Shelf Isotek EVO 3 Mains Cable Oriton Support Cones Wireworld Starlight 7 USB Cable Akiko Audio Tuning Sticks Astintrew Concord Powered USB Oriton Audio R33 Support System LessLoss DFPC Signature Power Cables ALL REVIEWS Digital Audio Players

Hisound Audio Studio-V and RoCoo Digital Audio Players Astell and Kern AK100 HiSound Audio Nova 1 Digital Audio Player

Loleatta Holloway - Queen of actress, comedienne and flamenco guitarist well known back in the day for her somewhat flamboyant style and the Night (Expanded Edition) BBR her catchphrase “Cuchi-Cuchi” ('Cuchi' is a Spanish slang term for a woman's genitals. However, Spanish ven if you’ve been speaking countries often have local dialect for the term. living under a rock In Venezuela, it refers to something pleasing to the eye.” Efor the last 35 years Thanks Ask.com). She’s done films, television (she was or so you must have heard a regular on The Love Boat by all accounts but that was either some of Loleatta all before my time)... and she was voted Best Flamenco Holloway’s disco charged Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine…TWICE! tunes or at the very least one of the many tunes that sample her …”Love “Let’s Spend the Sensation” anyone? “Queen of the Night” was first released in ’78 on Gold Night Together” Mind/Salsoul records and was Holloway’s follow up to her ’76 breakthrough album for the label “Loleatta”. which is all a bit Here we find it re-released on Big Break Records with a trio of extra mixes (the 12” Disco and Disco Madness mixes of the album’s opening tune “Catch Me on the Margarita Pracatan Rebound” and the 12” disco mix of “I May Not Be There When You Want Me (But I’m Right On Time). “Cuchi – Cuchi” is Charo’s first album and is recorded The album opens up with the infectious “Catch Me on alongside the amazing Salsoul Orchestra and was the Rebound” and this sets the tone for the rest of the released on the Salsoul label in ’77 and is about to see its album (the bass line is a killer!) and is pure D.I.S.C.O of re-release on Big Break Records where it’s been the very highest order – strings, that bass line, fabulous remastered and comes with extra mixes and sleeve-notes. percussion and of course Holloway’s diva vocal soaring The album was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in over the top. Philadelphia with Salsoul Orchestra’s leader Vince Philadelphia’s Norman Harris, who’s on production Montana taking on production, mixing, arranging and duties on this record, catches the feel of disco perfectly some playing duties. and it’s none stop uplifting dancefloor madness all the The opening tune “Dance a Little Bit Closer” is a pure way with the exception of “Only You”, “You Light My disco tune with Charo’s thick Spanish accented English Fire” and “I’m in Love” that take the lights down low language vocals over the top – it’s fun and it’s great. and bring on the end of the night smoochers. Next up is a version of the Stones’ “Let’s Spend the OK, I’m a sucker for disco grooves, and particularly Night Together” which is all a bit Margarita Pracatan if anything with the Salsoul Orchestra, but this is an album you take it seriously, but it’s got a real Latin tinge to it that just oozes sleezy disco sexiness and is made all the and you can’t help but like it – it’s also got a classic more worthwhile by the inclusion of the extensive Salsoul break down at around two minutes. sleeve-notes by Stephen SPAZ Schnee and the extended “Borriquito” has Charo singing in her native Spanish and mixes - the 12” Disco Mix of “Catch Me…” is an she implores us to dance the Flamenco Disco and again absolute belter with it’s prolonged percussion it’s all a bit “French Campsite After Far Too Many breaks…the Disco Madness mix is a bit special too! Whiskey Cocas” (don’t ask) but all this is forgiven if you take it at face value, lose your inhibitions and get into it. “Speedy Gonzalez” – you’ll know the tune I’m sure - is Charo - Cuchi Cuchi (Expanded fabulous in its kitsch kind of way and then comes the Edition) BBR title track “Cuchi-Cuchi” which is a great big slice of disco pie with Charo’s Superwhip vocals smothered all haro, or Maria del over the top of it. Rosario Mercedes The remix of “Dance a Little Bit Closer” and (the CPilar Martinez brilliant) remix of “Cuchi – Cuchi” are well worth the Molina Baeza as her parents effort but I could have taken or left the final Xmasy track would have known her, is a “Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus?” Spanish-American singer, Grab a great big spoon and fill your face!

Leon Haywood - Naturally notes are pretty interesting and there are four bonus tracks on the CD so it’s pretty good value too. (Expanded Edition)Universal Music /Verve

ike me, the name Leon Herbie Hancock - “Empyrean Haywood may well be Isles” Blue Note La new one to you but don’t let that stop you from reading further because this mpyrean Isles was one is a bit of a hidden gem. recorded in 1964, Haywood is best known for Ereleased on the Blue his crossover hit “I Want’a Note label, established Do Something Freaky To Hancock as a serious artist You” from 1975 which has been sampled by Public and is now available on hi rez Enemy, Dr Dre, Redman, Aaliyah, 50 Cent, Mariah format (this copy came from Carey and others. HighRes Audio in Germany) He was born in Houston, Texas and he’s had a pretty The album contains two of Hancock’s most famous wide and varied musical career including him compositions – “One Finger Snap” and the brilliant accompanying Guitar Slim on piano when he was still a “Cantaloupe Island” which is one of my favourite tunes teenager, playing keyboards in Sam Cooke’s band and of all time. playing on a number of one hit wonder bands’ tunes. His first solo hit on Decca records was “It’s Got To Be Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, players on the album are Mellow” which reached the giddy heights of #21 in Herbie Hancock on piano, Freddie Hubbard on cornet, 1967. Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums and all push themselves to their limits. So from an artist that I’d heard nothing about previously I was a little taken aback to hear that Naturally was “One Finger Snap” opens with the album and is really actually his ninth studio album, was originally released fine soul-jazz with the real standouts being Hancocks in 1980 on the Century Fox label and was at the time his superbly dextrous piano and Hubbard’s cornet. The drum most successful release reaching #22 in the R&B charts. beat is fast, infectious and relentless before it breaks to a The album kicks off with “Don’t Push It, Don’t Force It” solo at around the six minute mark. Whether you like which is five and a half minutes of mid tempo funk with soul-jazz/hard-bop or not I defy anyone to listen to this a great bass line, horn stabs, a fab chorus and it’s no tune and not tap their feet. Here, on the 24/96 version surprise that this tune reached #12 in the UK chart. The there’s a real insight into the recording space and the album’s opener sort of sets the tone for the rest of the drums in particular have a real snap to them. album and that’s no bad thing…the only track that doesn’t follow this funkalicious groove is the epic and “Oliloqui Valley” (sampled by Eric B. and Rakim on soulful “Love Is What We Came Here For”. There’s their 1990 “Untouchables” tune) is more of the same fast even a proto-rap on Lover’s Rap which is an early style and frantic style and the standout part of this song for me rap laid over a funky as hell groove. is the bass break at about 5’30” which is just fantastic only adding to the whole funkiness of the tune. Track of the album is a difficult one as they’re all of the “winner winner funky chicken dinner” variety but The aforementioned Cantaloupe Island (sampled on a “Don’t Push It…” and “That’s What Time It Is” ( the tune I used to hammer whilst Djing, (Us3 “Cantaloop story of a man weighed down with bills and hardships (Flip Fantasia)” )is a real tour de force with its who decides that he’s “Gonna dance dance all night unremitting funky and repetitive piano line with searing long”). cornet over the top. This is less frantic than One Finger This is a very very good record indeed and one that will Snap or Oliloqui Valley but no less toe tapping. The beat be getting a good deal of play here. It’s reminiscent of a drops in and out with different musicians being given the lot of things (listen and you’ll pick out what folk’s have spotlight from time to time, but then there’s a slight nicked from it) and you can certainly hear that hesitation in the timing and the beat is back with a Haywood’s influence has been taken up by a whole load vengeance. Without a doubt one of the greatest records of modern recording artists. This is the first time it’s ever recorded and if you don’t know it you really should been available on CD and all power to BBR for making go out and buy it now! it available to a new generation of funkateers. The sleeve

“The Egg” is the album's final track and starts off with a well be from 1963 it doesn’t seem at all dated and that is piano riff that is repeated and repeated over the beat with indeed true for the rest of the album. cornet over the top. Hancock plays around with this piano riff with it becoming more and less recognisable in “Deed I Do” is another standard, this time from 1926 parts throughout. There is some great interplay between with Fred Rose on music and Walter Hirsch on lyric piano and cornet. Of all the four songs on the album duties. The Ink Spots “Into Each Life Some rain Must “The Egg” is the most challenging musically but it still fall” comes next and without listing all the tracks and works very well as a piece of music. The (broken) beat their composers let’s just say that the album is crammed comes and goes and each musician is given solo parts with Jazz standards that will have you singing along with that pull the work together - the bass solo is particularly abandon. interesting and mournful, as is the piano part in places. Standouts are “Dream a Little Dream of Me” which has This tune is certainly pretty far out there with regards to an organ (Basie) that could have been recorded experimentation and cool improvisation but, as I say, it yesterday, Duke Ellington’s (et al) “I’m Beginning to works as a whole piece. See the Light” from 1944 and another Fats Waller tune The recording of the album is fabulous and really does “Ain’t Misbehavin”…you know them all don’t you! demonstrate why a good hifi is essential when listening Actually to pick out a standout from this collection of to music – the drum solo on The Egg at around 12 timeless classics is a bit unfair as there really isn’t a bad minutes is superb on a dynamic system. The hi-rez tune on here. format plays to this and it’s been a real pleasure to hear this record again. Ella’s vocal is astounding with a purity of tone that is as smooth as silk and her occasional scat on this record is terrific. Her vocal is complemented perfectly by the band Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie - behind her and whilst clearly a showcase for her voice, “Ella and Basie” Universal Music /Verve the arrangements and musicianship are tremendous. There’s a real power to the music when the musicians are called to give it and yet delicacy too like when the ecorded in 1963 and gentle strum of a guitar comes in on “Satin Doll”. released in July of Rthe same year on the This kind of big band swing has certainly had its heyday Verve label (and then later in but this particular recording has stood the test of time 97 where there were extra perfectly and I’d argue that it remains as fresh, exciting, tracks) this is Ella Fitzgerald dynamic and ‘get up and dance’ today as it must have and the Count Basie sounded in the ballrooms of yesteryear. Orchestra with Quincey Jones being responsible for Various - Pop Ambient Kompakt the arrangements (Fitzgerald later worked with Jones on the 1989 “Back on the Block”) and with production ut 27th January on credits going to Norman Granz . Ella and Basie had the Kompakt label worked together previously on just one occasion on the Pop Ambient 2014 is 1957 record “On the Sunny Side of the Street”. O the 14th instalment of this Let me say that the first thing I thought when listening to series of albums presided this hi-rez version from High Res Audio was how spot over by label head honcho on and modern the recording was and I’m becoming a bit Wolfgang Voigt. of a convert of this digital format it has to be Pop Ambient kicks off with said…there’s a real opening up of the sound and “The God of Pads” Ulf soundstage for me. Lohmann who’s had a six year hiatus and it would I’m sure many will know this album and many of the appear he’s back in fine form with the wonderfully tunes therein. It kicks off with a the Fats Waller/Andy dreamy “Sicht” and the tune that finishes off the record Razaf tune “Honeysuckle Rose” with an absolutely PCC. Both are majestic offerings that carry you along on glorious arrangement and Ella’s scat style adding a great a wave of lush pads and are an apt pairing to open and touch to the tune. This is big band jazz and whilst it may close this album.

Mikkel Metal’s “Patience” introduces percussion and spread over two CDs which are limited to just 1000 beats of sorts with slightly disturbing noisescapes over copies on the Isolade label. the top – this is a little reminiscent of a lite version of III is interestingly mixed with the use of vintage Ben Frosts “By the Throat” album in that it explores consoles and everything being recorded on to reel-to reel similar territories only in a less menacing way. tape to give the finished product a distinctly dirty and Marsen Jules’is a regular on the Pop Ambient collections lo-fi feel to it and this is apparent from the off with the and here we are offered up “The Philosophers Trap”, a opening track “Crepuscolaris” where a grimy and stark yet beautiful piece of music which drifts this way distorted kick lay the foundations for more deformed and has a feeling of urban landscapes and wandering sonic shapes thrown over the top. It’s dark and menacing through them late at night. but the strings over the top lift it a little - as if there is hope rising from the burned ashes of a destroyed future Cologne Tape could be described as a bit of a Kraut- city. electronics supergroup made up as it is of Michaela It’s meant to be listened to in one sitting and has been Dippel, Axel Willner, Jorg Burger, Philipp Janzen, Jens- conceived as a single piece of music, so strap yourself in Uwe Beyer, Volker Pannes, John Harten and Daniel cos it’s gonna get bumpy. Daniel Ansorge (and other friends) and their contribution to Pop Ambient, “Moorpark” is a glassy, repetitive This is not safe music, it’s music number that is all too short at just 2”35’. created to evoke an inner panic Simon Scott’s “Fur Betty” loops and loops and to me is oddly evocative of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” - it sounds nothing like it, but the effected vocal loop The first five tracks of CD1 continue the dark, sinister really does bring it to mind for some reason. and disturbing vein with the five tracks merging into one another with an underpinning head-nodding, mid-tempo The Bionaut (Jorg Burger), famous for “Everybody’s kick. This is not safe music, it’s music created to evoke Kissing Everyone” from the early 90s is present and an inner panic and yet there are some beautiful moments correct with a haunting remix of the 1992 Aquamarine in it such as half way through the 15 minute third track and it’s a lovely thing indeed with its ephemeral vocal, where it breaks down, before heading off in an luxuriant pads and layer upon layer of sounds that come absolutely fantastic acid attack and then getting all together to produce a gorgeous melange. This could well cinematic and stately again towards the end and into be a taste of what can be expected from his upcoming another track of head down techno (“Raww Oohmmm”). Triola album out in the spring. “He Won’t Let You In” finishes off the opening “suite” of tracks with a Spatik groove and then we’re into Wolfgang Voigt is represented here twice, once as “Leather Bears Cinematic Suite” made up in a video himself and the tune Ruckerzauberung 8 and once on game style with names relating to levels 1-5 (“Doom”, remix duties with is Gas hat on (it’s first outing since “Flames”, “Pandemonium”, “Dark Room” and “Exit 2008) remixing The Field’s “Cupid’s Head”. His own 24”). The style of the music is the same mid-tempo tune is seven minutes of building pads and loops echoing distorted kick with mad acid flourishes (“Flames”) and in on themselves to give a slightly ominous and shadowy funky mentalism (“Dark Room”). By the time you get to effect, whilst the remix of Cupid’s Head still maintains the “Exit 24” you do feel like you’ve passed through a all of the originals splendour but with a much more trial of some kind. ambient and dreamy quality to it. CD 2 is pretty much more of the same. Track 2 (“Yota There’s not a record on here that isn’t truly great and it’s Wave”) is a tremendous tune and had it been around in the perfect record to put on after a stressful day and drift the early ‘90s when I was djing it would have been away on the ebb and flow of lush electronica. hammered to death in the clubs. “Prelude” is a beautifully atmospheric tune to get lost in and is really Dusty Kid - III uplifting with its strings. “Omega Y” feels like an opening for the fantastic air punching, bouncing in the air “Omega X”. The last three tracks move us through to ell this is certainly the final track “Ending” which gentle comedown of a a good deal of track. Wmusic for your money with Dusty Kid’s third Very much recommended. Available now as a download album coming in at round and in February on CD. about the two hours mark

57 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig cott Berry is a US- born audio engineer Sand the founder and owner of Computer Audio Design (CAD). The company’s debut product, the 1543 DAC, won the ‘best-sounding hi-fi room’ at the UK’s largest hi-fi show - Bristol Sound and Vision 2013 - against hundreds of well-established brands. He takes time out to answer Hifi Pig’s Behind the Brands Questions

Your History Our first audio event was at the UK’s biggest hi-fi show How did you get into/what was your first job in the last year: Bristol Sound and Vision, 2013. It was our first industry? show and we were debuting our first product, the 1543 DAC, so we were understandably a bit nervous. However, I graduated in 1989 with a BSc in electrical engineering following a visit from the Clarity Alliance (formerly and one of the main reasons I got into engineering was BADA – the British Audio Dealers Association) show my interest in audio. My first job out of college was at an judges, we later learned that we had won the ‘best- audio testing agency, which gave me a head start when I sounding hi-fi room’ against 140 established hi-fi brands started Computer Audio Design (CAD) about three years — I couldn’t believe it! ago. I have spent many, many years on the R&D of the 1543 I worked at Tektronix (the oscilloscope company) and DAC and to get the best sound in show against all those then Xerox in R&D and manufacturing. I started working established brands who have had experience of exhibiting on DAC design a few years ago and then decided to make and playing music at shows for decades, well, that was my product available to fellow music lovers. my proudest moment!

Who or what was the biggest influence on your You and your system career? What was your very first system?

I always followed what Nelson Pass and Helmut With the money I earned from my first job in High Brinkmann were doing; I have met Helmut a couple School, I bought a huge Pioneer receiver and then a times now and use his amplifiers. Nakamichi 480 cassette deck. I then made my first speakers. Proudest moment/product you’re most proud of? Tell us about your system history

I have, of course, the 1543 DAC. It is connected directly My first serious system consisted of one of the first Naim to a pair of Brinkmann Mono Amplifiers that drive a pair Nait integrated amps, a Rega Planar 2 and Linn Kan of Dynaudio C1 speakers. I have many computers as speakers. In the USA in the 1980s, nothing I heard came sources, both Mac and PC, but my reference is a brand close to what Naim, Rega and Linn were producing, so new product (which hasn’t even been announced or press those three companies got the share of my money for released yet) and will debut at this year’s Bristol Sound many years. I developed the 1543 DAC using my wife's Vision show (2014). It’s a new type of dedicated transport old Naim 180 amplifier that I modified (slightly)! called the CAD Computer Audio Transport (CAT). It has been designed to complement the 1543 DAC, providing What component/product do you miss the most/wish consumers with a complete high-quality computer audio you had never got rid of? source component.

My Linn Kan Speakers. They were great in smaller The CAT, when used with the 1543 DAC, has been rooms. designed to provide the best-sounding source component possible. I have used all my skills to produce this Best system (or single component) you have ever transport and it is pretty special. CAD is also launching heard (no brands you represent please…!) another new product at Bristol, the CAD cable, which is a high-performance USB cable of my own design. I have I think the Nelson Pass First Watt SIT-1 Mono Amplifiers been working on it for almost two years now and I have a are the best amplification I have heard. Unfortunately, couple patents pending on it, so I am pretty proud of it. they only put out 10 watts each so you need an extremely My other system RCA interconnects include Townshend efficient speaker to get the best out of them. F1 Fractals, or The Chord Company’s excellent Sarum Tuned ARAY. Speaker cables are either Townshend Tell us about your current system(s) Isolda, Tellerium Q Ultra Black, or The Chord Company’s new Epic Reference.

The audio industry has been through some tough times. The state of the industry How many shops have gone under in the last 10 years? — we probably all know of at least a couple. The What's your view on the valve renaissance of the past industry needs something new to get customers excited 20 years or so? about sound quality. The iPod I think it makes a lot of sense. brought convenience, but lost I believe that simpler circuitry the quality. From what I have provides better sound. Many seen the age group of people tube products have a sound interested in higher-quality that to my ears, is just more sound is well over 40, unless natural. Maybe it's not! But you look at computer based who cares? — if it works for audio. The industry needs to you that is all that matters. bring out some new exciting More people need to hear how technology that gets customers good a single-ended tube amp enthusiastic again. can sound. Presuming the What are you views on the measurements are fine, what state of the industry/where is do you listen for when it going/what will it look like assessing products? in 5 years/what will typical systems look like?/What will I get in a lot of trouble every happen to prices?/What will time I say this, but I am not all happen to the high end – will that interested in it carry on regardless? measurements — they only tell part of the story. I do, of One of the reasons I call my course, have all the company Computer Audio oscilloscopes and spectrum Design, or CAD for short, is because I believe the future analyzers, etc. after all, this is where my career started, of music will be directly linked to computers. It is but some of the best-sounding products I have heard do already happening: so much music is available by not measure all that well. Take a look at the First Watt download or streaming and it all requires a computer (in SIT-1: some form) to function. There is a huge movement of small companies producing high-quality playback software for ridiculously low prices. The next thing is computer hardware designed for audio. There are already companies producing products that have a very low cost in audio terms, that make a real difference in sound quality.

It is my belief that the best sound quality that we will ever hear will come from a computer-based system and that these systems will cost substantially less than what we currently pay. I think better sound, lower price and more Just under 5% distortion at 10 watts! convenience is what the future holds for the audio industry. I listen for naturalness, non-fatiguing sound, low noise floor, speed, rhythm (foot-tapping), soundstage and What are the industry’s biggest con(s)? emotional impact. There are countless examples of audio

60 Copyright © 2014 Hifi Pig Behind the Brands products that sound incredible but don’t measure that Cowboy Junkies: Studio or Acoustic Junk single-mic well. Valve amplifiers are a case in point. recordings are superb; great space and sound staging. Damian Rice: O is good for seeing how well a system lets Your sound preference -‘Smooth, listenable you ‘get’ the emotion of the artist. musicality’, ‘forward, driving, ‘foot-tapping’, Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas. Incredibly well recorded and, involving sound’ or ‘detailed neutrality and I feel, his finest. There’s detail everywhere. transparency’? What are your most embarrassing recordings/guilty I think I just answered this! : ) musical pleasures

Your preference - Full-range floorstanders or I listen to a lot of older classic stuff that my wife hates! freestanding mini monitors with a sub? Traffic for three hours straight? No problem! Grateful Dead, Rickie Lee Jones, The Byrds, Van A smaller two-way mini monitor works for me and Morrison, Lou Reed — it's all good! there’s a huge amount of support for this approach out in the audio community and even within the press. Having safely ushered your loved ones out of the house as it is burning down to the ground, you ignore It’s all about the music, man… all standard safety advice and dash back inside to grab What is your favourite recording? just one recording – what is it?

It changes all the time! At the moment, it’s John Martyn Well, since I am a computer audio guy, I can grab my with Solid Air. hard drive with 4,000 full-resolution albums on it. But, I think that avoids the question! Bethany & Rufus 900 Tell us about your 3 most trusted test recordings Miles, it's out of print and killer.